Awake My Soul - Ereri

Chapter 22 - Caféstrophic

Eren sat across from Levi at the café; they were waiting for their meals to come out. Their hands were clasped on top of the table and Levi's thumb was softly running up and down Eren's hand. Eren closed his eyes, just feeling the soft touch and ignoring the rest of the world. It was broken when he heard somebody clear their throat, really loudly next to their table. Eren opened his eyes to see a middle age man and what Eren assumed to be his wife standing close to their table, their backs to them. They were talking to each other, but loud enough that they wanted to be heard. Eren tensed when he realised that the conversation was about him. Or rather about Levi and him.

"It's absolutely disgusting." The woman said.

"Maybe we should leave?" The man replied.

"Why can't they leave, their kind should not even be allowed to enter the premises of this establishment."

"Or any establishment" The man agreed. Eren made eye contact with Levi, who frowned. Eren felt like he was either about to cry or lose it, probably both. Levi squeezed his hand.

"What do you mean 'our kind'?" The smaller boy asked. His voice was level and even quite soft and kind, but when Eren looked at his eyes they were filled with rage and look very frightening.

"I mean, you repulsive faggots!" The man practically yelled. There were a few audible gasps across the café and Eren was sure that every head was turned in their direction. The words hurt Eren more than he would have liked them to. He thought he was over this; that he could deal with this kind of thing but Eren believed that maybe that wasn't the case.

"Excuse me?" Eren looked from the ground to Levi who had risen out of his seat and in the process let go of Eren's hand. He didn't look very menacing, even when he was standing. He was still a good two or three inches shorter than the man's wife and almost a whole foot shorter than the man himself. But Eren was very scared that Levi would hurt somebody, he tried to pull the older boy back down.

"Levi just sit down." Eren pleaded, leaning over the table and grasping onto Levi's arm. Levi shook his arm violently out of Eren's grip.

"No Eren!" He almost yelled at Eren, who shrunk back down away from him. Levi seemed to notice his mistake and looked towards the younger boy. "I'm not going to let them talk about you like that, about us like that." His voice was still strong but his eyes had softened. Eren could see a few people start to rise from their seats, wondering if they should go and break up the fight or prevent a potential fight from happening. Eren just felt very overwhelmed with the whole situation. He didn't know what to do. How to react. His hands were shaking violently and he felt a bit light headed, Eren wondered if he was going to faint. Luckily for everyone the manager of the café ran towards the scene.

"Is there a problem here?"

"Yes." Both Levi, the man and the woman said at once. The manager looked towards Levi and then towards Eren who probably looked like a mess, he looked at the ground trying to focus on something so he wouldn't break down. The manager then turned towards the man and the woman and said calmly;

"I would like to ask for you two to leave."

"What?" The woman outraged, "If anything those filthy animals should leave."

"If anyone's the filthy animals it's you two, so again I would like to ask you to leave this establishment. You're no longer welcome." The man huffed and the woman gasped.

"I hope you know you're going to hell." The woman sneered at the two boys before walking towards the door.

"I know I'm going to hell but it's sure as hell not because I love a boy." Levi called back. As soon as the words left his lips both boys froze. But everybody else had gone back to their meals or their conversations. Levi looked at Eren shocked. Eren didn't know what to do. He just stared at Levi, mouth slightly open. He could practically see Levi start to panic.